Chuck and I just returned from a whirlwind, information overload trip to San Diego for International Assembly. Each year, all 500+ district governors-elect from all over the world attend this intensive 6-day training led by the incoming International President and about 100 highly skilled Rotary leaders who serve as discussion facilitators. We learned so much from Rotary leaders from around the world, and we returned with a renewed enthusiasm to, as President-elect Holger Knaack says, GROW ROTARY!
The highlight of the first day’s sessions was the announcement of PE Holger’s theme for the year, Rotary Opens Opportunities. Over the next few months, you will be hearing more about this theme and the ways that we will use it to direct our work in the district next year.
For now, be thinking about the opportunities that Rotary has opened for you in your business, professional, and personal life as well as the opportunities that Rotary has opened for the people you have served through your club’s service projects.
It is critical to keep your club and officer information current in Rotary’s database so you receive accurate club invoices, your officers have access to reports and resources, and your club contact information is correct in the Official Directory and Club Finder. Update your club information directly on My Rotary, or if you use a club management system, make sure that your club information is being sent to Rotary.
Reporting club officers
Make sure that club officers have access to Rotary’s online tools and resources by reporting them by 1 February* for the following year. The Club secretary, president, treasurer, Foundation chair, or membership chair can add new officers by using the link on the Club Administration page of My Rotary or by entering them into ClubRunner. Be sure to send officer information to the district governor-elect, too, so she can contact incoming club presidents.
*If you have not done so yet, please complete this task soon.
Roll of Fame Call for Nominations: Deadline March 1, 2020
Please review the attached section of the District 5910 By-Laws (the Roll of Fame criteria) to determine if ONE member of your club should be nominated this year for inclusion in the District 5910 Roll of Fame. The nominee must not have previously received this honor.
I need to have your nomination submission before March 1, 2020. Prior to our District 5910 District Conference, the Roll of Fame Committee has to review each nominee, and I need to create the plaques bearing the certificates. Accordingly, late entries cannot be processed.
District Governor Betsy Robinson is sharing news for those attending the International Convention in Hawaii in 2020
Dear District Governors,
I hope you are planning to join Lois and me at the 2020 Rotary International Convention in Honolulu, Hawaii next June. And I would like to especially invite you, and everyone in your District, to join us in the Zones 25 and 29 Celebration June 7. This will be a gala event and an excellent opportunity for folks in Zones 25 and 29 to become even better acquainted.
Below is a flyer describing the event. For more information and to register, please go to the Zone website www.zones25B-29.org. And please share this information with everyone in your District.
On Friday January 10, 2020, our eight Inbound Exchange Students, six Rotarians, including DGE Becky Mason and DGN Jerry Springfield and our former outbound student (Rotex) Zoe Garza, flew to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to attend the annual South Central Rotary Youth Exchange (SCRYE) winter meeting (our District YEO Carol Mattingly and PDG Doris Lockey flew to Tulsa already the day before). Some of us had to get up as early as 5:00 a.m. to be in time at the airport; but we all made it and, after a little “bumpy“ flight, arrived safely in Tulsa.
Our students enjoyed a fun-filled weekend together with about 150 other Rotary Exchange Students from over 30 different countries world-wide. For the first night, all students were home-hosted in groups of 2-4 by families in Tulsa, whereas the second night, after a banquet, all 150 students were “locked-in” together in a one room, “supervised” by Rotarians and several Rotex, including our own Zoe Garza. Needless to say, they had a lot of fun talking, singing and dancing all night.
For our District YEO Carol Mattingly and interested Rotarians, the weekend started already on Friday morning and afternoon with Board and business meetings of SCRYE.
For all other over 150 attending Rotarians involved in Youth Exchange, the Saturday was filled with break-out sessions, where they learned the latest Youth Exchange news and all the rules and regulations and everything else that is involved hosting exchange students. For Rotarians new in Youth Exchange a certainly overwhelming experience.
On Saturday evening, after a meet and greet reception, we all enjoyed a festive banquet, with our students in great spirit and full of energy and excitement for their following look-in.
The banquet started with the “Parade of Flags” that represented all the countries participating in Youth Exchange and, after the dinner, continued with a talent show of four of the students.
Early Sunday morning and after a night with no sleep at all, the energy level of all our students not surprisingly “dropped to zero” when we were waiting for our return flight to Houston.
As always, a big “Thank You” goes to all our own Rotarians who attended the SCRYE meeting in Tulsa (from left to right):
PDG Ulli Budelmann (Galveston) , Charles Gilliland (College Station), PDG Doris Lockey (Lake Conroe), District YEO Carol Mattingly (Huntsville), Nisa and Marcus Gillespie (Huntsville), DGE Becky Mason (Beaumont), and DGN Jerry Springfield (Woodville).
This quarter the Rotary Club of Aggieland is providing pencils to the Local Middle Schools. We applied and received a matching grant from the District 5910 for $3,000. Our club then ordered 25,000 pencils with the Aggieland Rotary Logo on them. We ordered 250 pencil dispensers and during our regularly scheduled meeting we assembled the dispensers with pencils in them. We have labels with The Rotary Club of Aggieland logo ordered and will place those on the dispensers.
What motivated us to this project are the local teachers who are providing pencils out of their pockets for students that are ill equipped to do their daily assignments in class. We are also very excited to introduce the Middle School students to Rotary. When they reach High School they will recognize Rotary and hopefully join Interact at their local high school. We will update the district when we have delivered the dispensers to each of the Middle Schools and we will continue to “Make a mark with Rotary”.
The pencils will be provided for the teachers to disperse to students who have either forgotten their pencil or do not have the funds to bring a pencil.
The ultimate beneficiary is the student however, we have found that the teachers have been purchasing pencils for this use for years out of their own salary, so this benefits the teachers also.
Angelina Rotary hosted their adoption forum in January. The forum offered information and resources to people looking to adopt, foster and advocate for children in foster care in Angelina County. We had over 30 couples attend to find our more information. This forum was a part of our matching district grant.
The Rotary Club of Cleveland is sponsoring Annette Bell, a West Point student, majoring in Systems Engineering and minoring in Regional Studies in Latin America, and a Global Grant recipient.
Annette will attend the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, with the academic program Operational Research with Data Science. She has chosen the area of focus, peace and conflict prevention/resolution. This focus area serves to decrease conflict through addressing its underlying causes including poverty, inequality, ethnic tension, lack of access to education, and unequal distribution of resources.
Annette says, “Operational Research with Data Science emphasis pairs well with this focus for a number of reasons. Operational Research is a discipline that deals with the application of advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions. This program of study employs optimization to determine the best possible solutions. These solutions tend to either focus towards maximizing performance, yield, and profit or minimizing loss, risk, and cost. The results can focus on outcome with both practical application and human technology interactions.”
She concludes by saying, “ Operational Research Data Science will give me invaluable, flexible problem-solving skills through knowledge of operational research, optimization, and data analysis techniques that will be critically important in my ability to effect positive change on the world given my chosen career field.”
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Following the theme for January, the Rotary Club of Cleveland invited Vocational teacher from Tarkington High School, Stephanie Lambert, and Assistant Principal from Cleveland High School, Bryan Brooks to speak to our club.
Ms. Lambert spoke on the different vocational service programs at Tarkington High School, which included Auto (certifies in ASE),, Health Science (EKG certified), Culinary Arts (basics of restaurants and hospitality), Computer (Adobe sweep, Graphic Design, Photoshop, Microsoft sweep), Career Prep (OSHA 30 program), American Welding (12 certified last year), and Veterinary Clinic.
Mr. Brooks spoke on vocational programs at Cleveland High School, which included Robotics, Health Science (Medical Assistant certifications), Animal Science (Veterinary Science), Plant Science (able to work at florist), Education (aide certification training and take the tests), Welding (American Welding certificate), Forensic Science (upper level class, solve mystery), Hospitality/Culinary (500 hours required for certification), Audio Visual (radio station, Cable TV, Virtual Advertising, last year won National Film Award), Information and Technology (1st year to get certified), Wood Shop (in-depth course, framing homes, wiring homes), Law (Jailer 1), Business/Marketing (Excel certification, Word certification, Google sweeps, Legal sweep, Communication on Internet). In 2018-2019, 377 seniors got some kind of certification.
The Rotary Club of Cleveland recognized two students from Cleveland High School for January 2020: Abby Bohannon and Jorge Carcamo.
Pictured l-r: Abby Bohannon, Jorge Carcamo, Rotarian Ernestine Belt (New Generations chair), Dr. K. Dietrich (CHS Administrator)
Abby Bohannon is a member of FFA, President of the Veterinary Club, and plans to attend Blinn College in Brenham and transfer to Texas A&M, majoring in veterinary medicine. She will graduate from Cleveland High School with a Certificate in Veterinary Technology.
Jorge Carcamo is a member of the Culinary Arts class, and plans to attend the University of Houston, majoring in Civil Engineering.
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Students from Cleveland and Tarkington High School attended RYLA on January 10-12, 2020. Courtney Nelson from Cleveland High School was selected to return to RYLA in 2021 as a Counselor. Tatiana Jones went as Counselor this year, and was selected to return next year as Trainer next year.
Traveling with RYLArians from the Rotary Club of Cleveland, were RYLA recipients from the East Montgomery Rotary Club.
Even with bad weather looming, students had a great time at the Piney Woods Camp and made many new friends.
On December 14, 2019, the Rotary Club of College Station (CS) hosted their annual Clothing for Kids event. CS Rotarians work directly with Project Unity and local churches to identify families struggling to provide basic necessities for their children and then hosts a shopping spree for them.
This year the club gave 66 children a $125 each to go on a shopping spree at the College Station Target.
Following the event, the Rotarians joined the families for a pancake breakfast at Outback Steakhouse. It was a glorious time!
This event was funded by the Steak & Egg Breakfast fundraiser that was held October 24th by the Rotary Club of College Station; where they raised $6,043. The club also received $725.00 in donations for the Clothing for Kids program.
It has been an exciting 2020 kick off for the Rotary Club of College Station. Our club has welcomed one new member and 3 members recently received their blue badges. Congratulations to:
Mika Spears, classification, coffee entrepreneur
Daniela Weaver - classification, photographer
Dana Rowse - classification, hospice
Carl Fahrenwald - classification, higher education
Special thank you to Dr. Nichols from College of the Mainland who spoke to our Rotary Club on January 16th. Dr. Nichols highlighted the new initiatives happening at COM and also spoke about upcoming potential options for students to receive their education. He also signed a copy of The Night Diary to be donated to Barber Middle School. Thank you, Dr. Nichols!
Pictured: Dr. Nichols & Club President David Parker
Interact Club students from New Caney, Porter, and Infinity High Schools were the guest speakers at the weekly Rotary Club of EMC. These students attended the annual Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) camp on January 10-12 and spoke about their experiences. The Rotary District 5910 camp is held at the Pineywoods Baptist Encampment in Woodlake, TX.
In this picture: Rotary Club of EMC Board President Milton Austin and Interact Club students.
V.J. Tramonte (right) was honored and recognized at a recent Rotary Club of Galveston meeting for his milestone event: 40 years of membership in the Rotary Club of Galveston. Presenting the award and certificate was Club President, Jim Byrom. (photo by Robyn Bushong.)
The Rotary Club of Galveston raised $8,320 for Meals on Wheels during the club's annual Holiday meeting in December - the most ever. Rotarian Ray Pinard and Executive Director for Galveston's Meals on Wheels, made the special announcement at a recent club meeting. Members of the Rotary Club of Galveston donate both to Meals on Wheels and Toys for Tots during the club's annual holiday December meeting. (Photo by Robyn Bushong.)
Rotarian Marie Robb was recognized as a VIT "Foreman" at a recent meeting of the Rotary Club of Galveston for her contribution to the Rotary Club of Galveston's Galveston Rotary Foundation, Inc. The VIT (defined as "Fifth in Texas") initiative was created to encourage contributions to the Club's Foundation which in turn provides grants to non-profit organizations committed to improving the health, education and welfare of the Galveston community. In 2019 alone, the Foundation granted requests totaling over $32,000. Presenting the award was Rotarian Neil Nathan. (Photo by Robyn Bushong.)
Rotarian Margo Snider was recognized at a recent Rotary Club of Galveston meeting as a Paul Harris Fellow + 1. Presenting the award was Rotarian Neil Nathan. (Photo by Robyn Bushong.)
The Hardin County Rotary Club recently purchased and installed a 20"x30" Shade Canopy at Laura Reeves Primary campus in Silsbee on January 9.
The canopy was purchased through a matching grant from Rotary District 5910. The total cost of the project was $5,600.
The purchase and installation of the canopy was instrumental to the club to offer shade for both students and teachers during recess time on the campus' playground. Laura Reeves Primary is a campus for Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students in Silsbee Independent School District.
The canopy is wind rated and capable of withstanding hurricane-force winds, which was important to the club for safety purposes.
“We worked hard for nearly a year to make this happen for Laura Reeves campus,” Hardin County Rotary Club President Daniel Elizondo said. “This is by far one of the biggest projects we have participated in to help children. Our mantra is that we are a small but mighty club. When it came down to installation, our small group was 100-percent willing to get their hands dirty for this to complete the project.”
Along with this service project to Laura Reeves, the club also annually donates butterfly larvae in the spring and conducts a butterfly release for kindergarten students on the campus. Hardin County Rotary also donates books to all first-grade students at Silsbee Elementary in its annual Readers From Rotary project in May to help increase literacy.
“We are currently discussing an additional project to include with this shade canopy,” Elizondo said. “We certainly appreciate the Silsbee ISD Board of Trustees allowing us to provide for the district’s students. It has always been our passion to help children as much as we can.”
Cara Haddock completed her Red Badge program and celebrated with Ava Sloan, Membership Chair, with the popping of her Red Balloon.
District Governor, Betsy Robinson, inducted three new members into the Rotary Club of League City. Left to right: new member, John Melcher, Judge; sponsor, Kristi Trevino; District Governor, Betsy Robinson; new member Blake McCormack, Financial Advisor; Sponsors Linda Deckert and Ed Hartman, and; new member, Chad Flisowski, Education.
Students sponsored by League City and Galveston attended RYLA at Pineywoods Camp, January 10-12, 2020. They experienced an intense leadership program and developed skills as a leader, all while making new friends and having fun.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Crystal Ballroom, South Shore Harbour Resort
You are invited to join us for an evening of fun and helping to raise funds for the community outreach programs of the Rotary Club of League City. The evening includes craft brewery tastings from 8 breweries, food and live music. Tickets are $45.00 and can be purchased online at www.leaguecityrotary.com, from League City Rotarians and at the door.
The Rotary Club of Orange proudly sponsored RYLA students from four High Schools: Community Christian, Deweyville, Little Cypress-Mauriceville and West Orange-Stark. Rotarian Amy Johnson Peevey chaired the RYLA committee and served as an adult volunteer at the event.
Students sponsored by Orange Rotary with Rotarian Amy Peevey at RYLA
During the month of January, Trina Nelson Thomas arranged programs with the theme of Life Long Learning. Joshua Cole and Hannah Danielson reported on the reopening of The W.H. Stark House and volunteer opportunities. Thera Celestine and Denisha Keszeg brought information on the Community and Workforce Development Department of Lamar State College Orange with new job training programs and the Skill Development Fund grants for businesses. The Golden Triangle Retired and Senior Volunteer Program and with its contributions and opportunities for service was the subject of Crystal Petry’s presentation. Jennifer Restauri Dickinson talked about opportunities for arts experiences for all ages at the Stark Museum of Art.
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Joshua Cole and Hannah Danielson share news on The W.H. Stark House
During the month of January our club recognizes in a meaningful way how Rotarians and others in the community have made major contributions through their vocations as a means of service to society. We highlight and hold up for public recognition the effort of those who make our communities better places to live and work.
This year we awarded Melissa Tortorici (Rotarian) and Mark Ciavaglia (Non-Rotarian) with the Vocational Service Awards.
Vidor Rotary Club will host their annual Cajun Music Night fundraiser on Saturday, March 28 from 6:00-10:00 p.m. at Benoit's in Vidor. Tickets are only $10 a person, and that gets you gumbo and dancing. Soda and water will be for sale on site, and the only rule is BYOB! Enjoy a great cajun band and some boot scootin', bid on some fabulous things in the silent auction, and purchase a cupcake and spin the wheel for a prize. For tickets, contact Gayle Nagai, 409-673-8482. There are two nice hotels in Vidor, so spend the night and enjoy! Funds support scholarships and the green bus Read and Feed program.
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